"Code Name Verity"

Elizabeth Wein

"Code Name Verity"

Elizabeth Wein

Additional Summary

"Verity" is a spy for Great Britain. She is on an assignment in German occupied France. She makes a terrible mistake and gets captured by the Gestapo. Humiliated and abandoned, Verity writes a confession for the Gestapo. She writes about her best friend Maddie, the pilot who dropped her off in France and who, she fears, she will never see again. She is afraid they will never be able to laugh or share their fears together again. Abandoned, she fights, cries, and mourns for a chance to escape her prison. However, sometimes escaping can be very different than getting out. Will Verity survive her prison, or will she rot in a cell?

The Spitfire Women

The Spitfire Women were a group of about 168 women pilots in World War Two. It was the female Branch of the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary). They ferried people from one place to another who were in emergency situations. They also transported new and broken planes to British factories. Unlike male pilots, women pilots had to work twice as hard to get recognition. The first 8 women pilots had to have 500 hours of flying time. Much more than the men. Some people even refused to have a women ferry them from one place to another. However, the Spitfire Women didn't give up. They kept working and eventually got the recognition they deserved.

Relation to Book

In "Code Name Verity", Maddie is a pilot in the ATA for Great Britain. I assume that she was a Spitfire Woman or, at least, that the branch of the ATA that she was in (it wasn't mentioned) was based off of it. However they show many similarities. For example, Maddie ferried many men and women to different places and carried cargo to different stations. Maddie also had to deal with the struggle for recognition. People sometimes didn't believe it when she told them she was a pilot. Once, she met a Jamaican pilot who could relate to that and said. "It's a white man's world." Maddie is the true spirit of a Spitfire Woman. She has the sheer will and determination to fly.